the
English
Pronunciation
- (when stressed or prevocalic)
- (when unstressed and preconsonantal)
- enPR: thə, IPA(key): /ðə/ (but see notes below)
Audio (CA) (file) Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: (generally not applicable as the unstressed variant is never used to terminate a phrase)
The word the is commonly pronounced /ðiː/ whenever it is pronounced as a distinct word, e.g.:
- When it is used for emphasis (This is the hospital for heart surgery.).
- When the speaker pauses between the and the next word (the … sovereignty).
- In many but not all dialects, when the next word begins with a vowel sound (the onion) (compare with a vs. an).
The word is generally pronounced indistinctly as /ðə/ or merely /ð/ in other situations, such as when attached to a word beginning with a consonant sound.
- The typographical pronunciation /jiː/ ("Ye Old...") is a deliberately archaic retronym from ẏe, which is a variant spelling of þe, from Old English þē pronounced thē, /ðeː/ (using ẏ in place of the thorn (þ). It is not actually a separate pronunciation in Middle English.
- The actual morpheme /jiː/ in Middle English represents ȝe-, a variant spelling of the prefix y- attached to verbs and used to denote a verbal past participle.
Etymology 1
From Middle English the, from Old English þē (“the, that”, demonstrative pronoun), a late variant of sē. Originally masculine nominative, in Middle English it superseded all previous Old English forms (sē, sēo, þæt, þā), from Proto-Germanic *sa, from Proto-Indo-European *só.
Article
the
- Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it articulates is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already completely specified. [from 10th c.]
- I’m reading the book. (Compare I’m reading a book.)
- The street in front of your house. (Compare A street in Paris.)
- The men and women watched the man give the birdseed to the bird.
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- I sleep in the bedroom!
Audio (US) (file)
- I sleep in the bedroom!
- Used before a noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, indicating that the noun refers to a single referent defined by the relative clause.
- The street that runs through my hometown.
- Used before an object considered to be unique, or of which there is only one at a time. [from 10th c.]
- No one knows how many galaxies there are in the universe.
- God save the Queen!
- Used before a superlative or an ordinal number modifying a noun, to indicate that the noun refers to a single item.
- That was the best apple pie ever.
- Added to a superlative or an ordinal number to make it into a substantive. [from 9th c.]
- That apple pie was the best.
- Introducing a singular term to be taken generically: preceding a name of something standing for a whole class. [from 9th c.]
- 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, page 536:
- Stern and God-fearing, the Afrikaner takes his religion seriously.
- 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, page 536:
- Used before an adjective, indicating all things (especially persons) described by that adjective. [from 9th c.]
- Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.
- Used to indicate a certain example of (a noun) which is usually of most concern or most common or familiar. [from 12th c.]
- No one in the whole country had seen it before.
- I don't think I'll get to it until the morning.
- Used before a body part (especially of someone previously mentioned), as an alternative to a possessive pronoun. [from 12th c.]
- A stone hit him on the head. (= “A stone hit him on his head.”)
- When stressed, indicates that it describes an object which is considered to be best or exclusively worthy of attention. [from 18th c.]
- That is the hospital to go to for heart surgery.
- 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
- “New Kid On The Block” doubles as a terrific showcase for the Sea Captain who, in the grand tradition of Simpsons supporting characters, quickly goes from being a stereotype to an archetype, from being a crusty sea-captain character to the crusty sea-captain character.
Usage notes
The word the precedes proper nouns in a number of cases, although most proper nouns use no article. There are always exceptions. See also Appendix:English proper nouns for more information.
- Countries
As a general rule, country names are not preceded by the. There are a few exceptions, most of which are pluralised:
- The Netherlands
- The Bahamas
- The Solomon Islands
- The Maldives
- The Seychelles
- The Philippines
- The Yemen (can also be used without an article)
- The Sudan (can also be used without an article)
- The Ukraine (article dropped since 1991)
- The Lebanon (usually used without the article)
Names of countries containing specifications like kingdom, republic etc are used with the:
- Place names
Some place names use a definite article:
- All oceans (The Atlantic Ocean, The Pacific Ocean)
- All seas (The Red Sea, The Bering Sea, The Caribbean Sea), and straits (The Strait of Magellan, the Bering Strait, The Bosphorus)
- All rivers (The Amazon, The Nile, The Mississippi, The Seine, The Yangtze), canals (The Panama Canal, The Suez Canal) and deltas (The Nile Delta, The Orinoco Delta, The Colorado River Delta)
- All art galleries (The Tate, The Louvre, The Smithsonian American Art Museum), all museums with the word museum in the name (The Museum of Natural History, The British Museum)
- Most English-language newspapers (The New York Times, The Guardian, The Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal)
- All North American railroads, even when not referred to by their full names or only by nicknames (The Pennsylvania Railroad, The Reading (Reading Railroad), The Frisco (St. Louis–San Francisco Railway))
- Bands
Musical bands with a plural name are generally used with the:
- Universities
University names beginning with the word "University", and some other university names, are used with the:
- The University of North Carolina
- The Ohio State University
When used before an adjective which is not followed by a noun, it may refer to a group of people for which the adjective is appropriate:
- the Scottish = Scots
- the rich = rich people (considered as a group)
Alternative forms
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 2
From Middle English the, thy, thi, from Old English þȳ (“by that, after that, whereby”), originally the instrumental case of the demonstratives sē (masculine) and þæt (neuter). Cognate with Dutch des te ("the, the more"), German desto ("the, all the more"), Norwegian fordi ("because"), Icelandic því (“the; because”), Faroese tí, Swedish ty.
Adverb
the (not comparable)
- With a comparative or more and a verb phrase, establishes a parallel with one or more other such comparatives.
- The hotter the better.
- The more I think about it, the weaker it looks.
- The more money donated, the more books purchased, and the more happy children.
- It looks weaker and weaker, the more I think about it.
- With a comparative, and often with for it, indicates a result more like said comparative. This can be negated with none.
- It was a difficult time, but I’m the wiser for it.
- It was a difficult time, and I’m none the wiser for it.
- I'm much the wiser for having had a difficult time like that.
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Crimean Gothic
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *sa.
Article
the
- the
- 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:
- omnibus vero dictionibus praeponebat articulum tho aut the
- [he/she] placed the article tho or the before every word
- 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:
Usage notes
While it is likely that Crimean Gothic retained grammatical gender, de Busbecq's letter does not mention which articles are used with which words, making it impossible to reconstruct their gender.
Danish
Noun
the c
- Alternative spelling of te (“tea”)
- 2016, Thorkild Hansen, Genklang: Rejser og portrætter 1959-89, Gyldendal A/S →ISBN
- Vi vågnede ved 6tiden og lavede dejlig the.
- We got up at about 6 AM and made lovely tea.
- Vi vågnede ved 6tiden og lavede dejlig the.
- 2015, Lotte Heise, Tina Bryld, Selvfølgelig skal hun bo hos mig: om at bo med sin handicappede mor, Gyldendal A/S →ISBN
- Hun smiler over hele femøren, da duften af te breder sig: ”Uha, dejlig the.”
- She smiles broadly, as the scent of tea spreads: ”Oh, lovely tea.”
- Hun smiler over hele femøren, da duften af te breder sig: ”Uha, dejlig the.”
- 2016, Thorkild Hansen, Genklang: Rejser og portrætter 1959-89, Gyldendal A/S →ISBN
Declension
common gender |
Singular | |
---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | |
nominative | the | theen |
genitive | thes | theens |
Eastern Arrernte
Irish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [hɛ]
Middle English
Article
the
- Alternative form of þe
- 14th c. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. General Prologue: 1-2.
- Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
- The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
- 14th c. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. General Prologue: 1-2.
References
- “the, (pron.2)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2018.
References
- “thei (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 29 May 2018.
Etymology 4
From Old English þēon.
Murrinh-Patha
See also
- ye (incorporated noun)
References
- 2003, Mark Abley, Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages.
Old High German
Alternative forms
References
- Braune, Wilhelm. Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, zusammengestellt und mit Glossar versehen
Old Saxon
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *sa. The original s- was replaced by th- by analogy with the other forms, but still preserved in the variant sē.
Declension
Scots
Serbo-Croatian
Etymology
Borrowed from English the, which sounds similar to Serbo-Croatian da.
Vietnamese
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [tʰɛ˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [tʰɛ˧˧]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [tʰɛ˧˧]
Etymology 1
Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 紗 (SV: sa).
Derived terms
- buồng the
- phòng the